A daffy, cartoony, good-natured homage to way too many films and musicals

The cold cream must have been flowing in the dressing rooms at Times Square Arts Center where Fabulous! The Queen of New Musical Comedies is percolating five times a week. The quick changes from drag to straight and back again must be exhausting for this hard-working, talented cast. But, all the effort is worth it. Fabulous, a slightly confused parody/pastiche musical is good natured, energetic and lots of fun. The program notes make it clear that the creative team wanted to create an homage to films like Some Like It Hot and shows like Anything Goes, but there are more than a few references to Gentlemen Prefer Blondes in the blonde vs. brunette lead couple and allusions to all the Shakespearean gender-bending comedies where suspension of disbelief comes with the package. A lot of suspension of disbelief—and good sense—is necessary to enjoy the hijinks of Fabulous which, literally, takes drag chorines Laura Lee and Jane on a voyage of self-discovery and romantic adventures. Stuck in a dreary show at the Merde Hole in Paris where the leading lady, Soufflé gets shot, Laura Lee (Nick Morrett) and Jane (Josh Kenney) decide to take a job on the Good Ship Ethel May which is taking its last crossing under the ownership of the total nitwit, Sir Alfred Dooalot (Cameron Lucas). On board are four supposedly talentless cruise staff members who are drafted by tough cookie, cruise director Sylvia (Jane Aquilina) to be her back-up chorus as she assembles a perfectly dreadful act. Sylvia’s plans are thwarted by the arrival of Jane and Laura Lee whom she harasses with the help of her scared stooge Stewey (Owen Wingo) whom she blackmails into doing her dirty work. Meanwhile a brother-sister team of thieves (Natalie DePuy & Bryan Seastrom) illegally boards the Ethel May in search of a diamond necklace which Laura Lee has stolen from Soufflé and they, too, get caught up in romantic confusion that is the Ethel May. Too complicated? Just wait…there’s more: Handsome Hollywood leading man Rock (Adam Kemmerer) shows up, revving up the hormones of virtually every man and woman on board. But, Rock harbors secrets of his own as he finds himself attracted to Jane, which is odd considering he is gay. And so the silly plot turns and turns, helped along by the zippy, period-perfect songs by Dan Derby (book and lyrics) and Michael Rheault (music) and Mary Lauren’s delightfully dippy choreography.